Apr
Originally published on: 07/17/2012
Universal International Toll Free Numbers
Universal toll free numbers are NOT usually the best option for business.
Why?
1. $260 extra setup fee
2. More than 6 weeks to set up
3. MOST IMPORTANT: a single toll free number may not be recognized as free from all countries;
example- in the US we use a system of toll free that requires 800,888,877,866, or 855 as prefix
The “one number for multiple countries” solution does not necessarily make it “one unified way to call that single number from all the countries”. Some countries have a different international prefix to dial “universal toll free numbers (UIFN)”
The same single UIFN number has to be dialed with the following prefixes from these few selected sample countries:
00 + UIFN Number – Argentina
0011 + UIFN Number – Australia
011 + UIFN Number – Canada
990 + UIFN Number – Finland
001 + UIFN Number – Hong Kong
010 + UIFN Number – Japan
810 + UIFN Number – Russia
001, 002, & 008 + UIFN Number – South Korea
Most other countries use “00” as the prefix and some use combination of one of those listed above.
Just knowing the fact that there are variations and no “universal” agreement on how to dial these numbers from every single country across the board, in my opinion, makes these “universal toll free numbers” completely bogus…
Should a number for all countries start with anything other, callers will be very reluctant to dial as they will NOT think it is toll free.
This is true for many countries and most people in those countries. Example: if the toll free number were 1-888, would callers in Germany automatically presume it a valid toll free number?
For these reasons, typically companies eventually prefer individual toll free numbers for each country needed
Even our large customers Google, Expedia and others elect to have multiple individual country numbers.
This, combined with lower cost, much faster setup, and the ability to customize more readily your time of day needs would suggest individual country toll free numbers are preferred.
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About the author
Joseph Horton is the founder/owner of www.Namada.com which has been an international phone services consultant and carrier provider since 1994. Namada,com is based in New Jersey in the United States and has customers worldwide utilizing unique services like global conferencing and international call forwarding. e-mail: jh@namada.com
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